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Fanboy Rampage: John Byrne Vs… John Byrne?

Published Sat, 22 Dec 2012 08:00:53 -0600

Last updated Sat, 22 Dec 2012 13:09:15 -0600

Here is a very special Christmas present for you all.

Discussing Galactus, on the 5th of October, John Byrne posted on his message board, replying to an earlier poster.

Such a great character. Why, oh why, did the second FF movie screw everything up?!

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To be fair, it could have been a lot worse!

I was as disappointed as anybody with the gas cloud with Galactus' shadow on it, but in many ways I suspect we should be grateful for small mercies. A CGI Galactus stomping around Manhattan — or Tokyo, or wherever that was — would have stood a very good chance of just looking silly. It would have taken a very deft hand to do him justice.

And I will say this, altho it happened during the absurd TeleTubbie scene, I was quite jubilant when the Surfer actually said "GALACTUS". All that dancing around with "the Destroyer" made me sure they were going to cop out entirely.

The real lesson here, tho, is how much contempt there is in Hollywood for comics, and superheroes. They called the SIlver Surfer by name, but had to have Ben mock the title. They snuck in "Galactus" almost as a throwaway. Yet, seriously, are those names any more silly than, say, Dumbledore, or Smeagol, or Goldfinger?

This was then quoted by user David Plunkert in a reply on the 21st December;

I was as disappointed as anybody with the gas cloud with Galactus' shadow on it, but in many ways I suspect we should be grateful for small mercies. A CGI Galactus stomping around Manhattan — or Tokyo, or wherever that was — would have stood a very good chance of just looking silly. It would have taken a very deft hand to do him justice.

iii

I've loved many a comic tale that featured giant beings but have yet to be awed when giant sized creatures pop up in superhero films (Loki's serpent, Giant Sandman).

I can't put my finger on why its distracting or an odd fit….might be the same reason why its cooler to see Superman pull a door off a car than it is to see him lift a continental shelf.

Byrne then replied to this… but for somehow didn't realise that the bit he was replying to were his own words months earlier.

A CGI Galactus stomping around Manhattan — or Tokyo, or wherever that was — would have stood a very good chance of just looking silly. It would have taken a very deft hand to do him justice.

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Did you think the Iron Giant looked "silly"? The Balrog? The cave troll? The Transformers?

If Galactus was played as a giant cardboard cutout "stomping around", sure, he'd look silly. But what if some thought was put into it? What if, because of his immense size, he moves somewhat in slow motion, with perhaps a slight "ghost image" following him? (And I don't recall Galactus being particularly inclined to "stomp" anyway!)

We've always enjoyed how John Byrne has taken offence at often the most innocuous of things. However as far as I can tell, this is the first time he's kicked off at himself.

Fanboy Rampage was a blog by Graeme McMillan dedicated to the funniest, most ludicrous and most inappropriate comic book back-and-forths online. McMillan has moved on now, becoming a proper journalist for the likes of Newsarama and Spinoff but he gave permission to Bleeding Cool to revive his great creation. Feel free to contribute your own spots of online excess.

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